'A sense of urgency': Sask. man accused of abducting daughter calls himself to the stand during trial
CTV
Michael Gordon Jackson, the man on trial after being charged with contravention of a custody order for allegedly abducting his daughter in late 2021 to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, called himself to the stand Monday.
Michael Gordon Jackson, the man on trial after being charged with contravention of a custody order for allegedly abducting his daughter in late 2021 to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, called himself to the stand Monday.
Jackson, 53, who is representing himself in the trial is also the defence's first witness.
He began his testimony by admitting he was “nervous.”
“I fully believe through the evidence and testimony presented last week, the Crown has already proved my case,” Jackson said in his opening statement.
Jackson took the jury through the series of events starting well before November 2021, describing the divorce with his now ex-wife and the mother of their daughter as “bad.”
"When the marriage broke down, it wasn’t good,” he added. “Over the years, things got more complicated through the courts.”
According to the couple’s custody order in place at the time of the alleged events, the then seven-year-old girl’s mother had primary custody of the couple’s child.